Morning, all. While you slept, the Labour Party re-gained control of Lewisham Council in convincing fashion, routing 5 of our 6 Green councillors in the process.Labour now has an absolute majority on the council.

11.40am update:The overall make-up of the new council (with 1 ward still to declare, as it requires a re-count) is as follows:Labour 38Lib Dem 12Green 1

02.03 UpdateA summary of the position so far on the all-new Lewisham Council: Labour 27Lib Dems 5Greens 111 wards down, 7 to go (Telegraph Hill is an interesting one - can it hang onto its incumbent socialists?). I think we can all see where this is trending ... Labour are set for a clear majority. I'll keep logging results until I fall asleep, which might not be long now ...

01.46 UpdateA summary of the position so far on the all-new Lewisham Council: Labour 24Lib Dems 5Greens 110 wards down, 8 to go.

01.42 UpdatePerry Vale ward: 3x LabourEvelyn ward: 3x Labour

01.34 UpdateBrockley ward: Darren Johnson (Green) 2330Vicky Foxcroft (Lab) 2632Jimi Adefiranye (Lab) 2449Things have quietened down a bit. If the flow of results doesn't start up again soon I'm going to nod off, so we may need to finish this off in the morning.

01.08 UpdateBellingham ward: 3x Labour.Alan Hall (2380), Ami Ibitson (2269) and Ron Stockbridge (1925).Lib Dems and Conservatives in region of 800-1200; Jenny Stewart of LPBP ahead of Greens on 318.That's six results down, 12 more to go in the Lewisham Council elections.BC is beginning to suspect that everyone at the BBC has gone to bed, as their local elections webpage hasn't been updated for ages and is showing incorrect totals. So no developments to bring you on that front.

00.45 UpdateIsn't it annoying that all the TV news channels choose to entirely ignore the fascinating and complex local elections picture in favour of endless moronic talking heads, repeating nonsense phrases like it's going out of fashion. Across the country, counts have been going on today, with thousands of candidates, counters, spectators and voters waiting to find out the results, and yet not a peek of any of it on the main news channels. I do understand that it's terribly important to say nothing over and over again repeatedly in a tone of increasing agitation, but still, you'd think they'd want to come up for air occasionally ...

22.55 UpdateJo reports from the count: 'Quick update from the count. Lots of glum faces ... except the ones wearing red rosettes. The teams of counters are working their way through the ward councillor votes. Lots of split votes, so suspect results will be later than the estimated 11pm.'Thanks, Jo, for the updates!

22.28 UpdateThe overall picture in London so far tonight: the Conservatives have done well at holding councils of which they already had control, but the major gains of the night have been for Labour. London's Parliamentary vote turned out strongly for Labour, and this pattern is being replicated in the local council elections too. The party has really entrenched its control across large parts of the city. To what degree is this a reaction against London Mayor Boris Johnson?

21.20 UpdateSome more London council results for you: Barnet is a Conservative hold; Bexley Con hold; Bromley Con hold; Croydon Con hold; Islington is a Labour gain from no overall control.Councils whose results we're still waiting for:Lewisham, Brent, Southwark, Camden, Ealing, Hackney, Haringey, Havering, Hounslow, Lambeth, Merton, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Westminster.Hackney and Newham are also electing mayors; both currently have Labour incumbents who are fighting for a further term of office.

20.46 UpdateAnd so, the final countdown. Counting for seats on Lewisham Council begins. To summarise the current position: Labour 26 seatsLib Dem 17Green 6Conservative 3The Greens are talking down expectations. Labour increased its vote substantially in the Parliamentary elections, and gave Sir Steve Bullock a third term in office: could Labour voters sweep all before them?

20.34 UpdateLewisham Mayoral election result: Labour hold. Sir Steve Bullock has won a third term in office.Steve Bullock (Labour) 52,531 (with 4670 second prefs)Chris Maines (Lib Dem) 36,446 (with 10,001 second prefs)Thanks again to Jo for the info.

19.15 UpdateFirst round of the mayoral election due, according to Anon in our comments section.How it works: Unlike the council and Parliamentary elections, the mayoral election uses the supplementary vote system. This means that voters select first-choice and second-choice candidates. In the first round of voting, first-choice votes are counted. If someone has won over 50% of the total, they are declared the winner. If no-one has achieved over 50% of the first-choice votes, all but the leading 2 candidates are rejected. Their second-choice votes are then counted, and added onto the votes already achieved by the two leading candidates. Whichever one has the highest total wins.

18.55 UpdateLadywell Green councillor Sue Luxton has just Tweeted: 'Just woken up having got back from GE count at 10am heading off to locals count soonish. Braced for total/ near total wipeout :( '

18.20 UpdateA note on timing: Lewisham Council advises that the Mayoral election result will be announced some time 'after 8pm' this evening, with local council results out 'after 11pm' sometime.

18.00 UpdateGreenwich Council remains in Labour hands. Wandsworth remains Tory-controlled.Nationally, UKIP have so far lost (net) 5 councillors. BNP are down 22 councillors. Greens are down 2. Lib Dems are down 49. Labour are up 239. Conservatives are down 82.

17.45 UpdateLet's review some of the London council results. Labour have taken control of Enfield from the Tories. Hammersmith & Fulham, Hillingdon and Kensington & Chelsea all remained in Conservative hands. Sutton remains Lib Dem. Lots of councils still to declare.

17.30 UpdateThe markets have become more wobbly during the day, as the prospect of coalition talks developed. If there isn't a clear deal by Monday morning, we could be in for a bumpy ride.

17.06 UpdateThe Barking & Dagenham results are in: Labour take 51 seats, BNP 0. A stunning result, and a total triumph for the Hope Not Hate campaign.

16.58 UpdateLet's have a look at General Election turnout in our constituency, Lewisham Deptford. In 2005, it was 51.5%. This year it soared to 61.5%. This is still low compared to the national average, but it's a big increase. The main benefactor was winner Joan Ruddock, who took 22,132 votes in comparison to the 16,902 she polled in 2005. The Lib Dems nearly doubled their vote, and the Conservatives also saw an increase. By contrast the Greens actually lost votes: this doesn't bode well for their local elections performance.

16.30 UpdateAccording to the BBC, a third of council results are in, and the situation is as follows:Labour gained Hartlepool, Liverpool, Coventry, Doncaster, and Enfield.The Tories lost control of Lincoln, Brentwood, Solihull, Hyndburn, Mole Valley, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Bury, and North Tyneside.The Liberal Democrats lost Rochdale and Sheffield.

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As national attention remains rivetted on the process of coalition talks, local election counts are starting up around the country.We kick off with some news which we think BC readers of all political stripes can unite in rejoicing over: the BNP's Richard Barnbrook has reportedly lost his seat on Barking & Dagenham Council. It's looking like a trouceing for the far right.

BC will be covering further developments as they happen, and of course will bring you Lewisham Council and mayoral results as we get them ... (BK is not planning on pulling another all-nighter, though, you'll be glad to hear).

I agree with Nick ... only small gains for Labour but certainly I expect them to regain control of the council - quite possibly at the expense of some of the existing excellent green and socialist councillors.

I think this is sad, as whatever your political views, local councillors who work hard to represent their constituents deserve a fair chance of re-election.

With the mix of local/general elections on the same day all local candidates have to double their vote just to stand still.

Off to the count now. At least I will be able to cheer very loudly if Max Calo wins a well deserved seat.

It's a great illustration of the power of party-led voting decisions, though. It's a huge problem for smaller parties and independents: how can they reach out to the electorate sufficiently to combat the efforts which the larger parties can put into a campaign? Being an incumbent councillor should give a bit of a head start on that, but if it proves to be insufficient for our local Greens, it'll be pretty disspiriting for them.

Hi Nick (Ingham), you're very right about the effect of the turnout, and the squeeze may have hit hard in Lewisham Central too, it's one of those wards with a large traditional Labour vote that yesterday turned up to vote against the bogeyman in numbers and voted Labour throughout.As Nick (Barron) observed Joan Ruddock scored 6000 more votes, and if they're uniformely distributed across the constituency then it means that we'll only have Labour Councillors in Lewisham Deptford.

Hi Nick (Ingham), you're very right about the effect of the turnout, and the squeeze may have hit hard in Lewisham Central too, it's one of those wards with a large traditional Labour vote that yesterday turned up to vote against the bogeyman in numbers and voted Labour throughout.As Nick (Barron) observed Joan Ruddock scored 6000 more votes, and if they're uniformely distributed across the constituency then it means that we'll only have Labour Councillors in Lewisham Deptford.

Whatever happens it's great to see the BNP screw up. Hope the main parties do not let them get a foothold again. Now let's just hope they tear themselves apart, split into factions and reveal themselves to be the vile racists that we all know they are, some people fell for their 'people like us' shite.

yep..i was thinking nationaly especially barking. I'm no political strategist but it seems that the poor white bods in areas that were blighted by local industry collapsing just got ignored. They should be Labour to the core, perhaps all the main parties will stop treating them with contempt now...am i being too strong?

When i say 'take them seriously' I don't mean pandering to the easy option of blaming malign outsiders but of showing that they are trying to improve their lot.

Stuck with Steve for four more years! Cruel and unusual punishment, surely? Why no limit on the number of terms one person can serve as Mayor? Three in a row is too much, especially given that he was Leader of the council for umpteen years in the 90s.

Who would have though that under the sweet, worthers-original, foggey veneer of Tess Colnane beat the callous heart of an ignorant racist?Still I'd like to give her a little hug, whilst stroking the bristles on her chinny-chin-chin.

Out of interest, Brockley Nick, why do you think George Galloway a monster (from a previous blog)?

Congratulations to Lewisham Council for doing the various counts at a rational pace. In Greenwich we had the two Westmintser counts plus those for council seats simultaneously overnight, with the Parliamnetary results at dawn and the Council results from 7-9am. No need for this at all.

To make matters worse the count took place in the David Beckham Academy next to the Dome which was freezing cold.

Not a very good night for Greenwich Council (and the Labour gains made things worse)

I think that local elections should be held on a different day to encourage people to vote on different/local issues. If hard working councillors get thrown out because people just vote the same way as they do nationally then that is not good for local areas.

Brockley Nick, one good thing about Saddam was his clear distinction between secular state and religion. Women's rights under this particular dictator ironically florished (relative to neighbouring countries). Perhaps Galloway, as a know atheist, respected this particular attribute? As for the talk show, that's a matter of taste not morals. I'm definitely not a fan in any way, but perhaps a little harsh in your description? After all, he did give a refreshing and outspoken voice against the war in Iraq.

Bullock bounds back, this isn't great news. I feel his leadership of Lewisham holds the whole area back. There is a lack of dynamism. This area needs someone with some political panache who gets things done with style. I didn't rate any of the mayoral candidates. It's strange that the role doesn't attract high calibre candidates. Oh well, BXAG, BrocSoc et al, will have to keep ploughing on to try and improve this area.

@ anon 20.26. At what price, though. There have to be huge savings, in both money and avoiding disruption of schools and normal life for those using the public buildings that become polling stations, in having the elections on the same day.

The electorate as a whole just has to be more clued up. Nick did brilliantly with separate virtual hustings for Mayor and for MP. The Pensioners Forum also had separate hustings events for the local councillor and general elections. It can and should be done.

Brockley Nick, perhaps "flourished" was not the best word to use in my statement. Of course, as a woman, I do not endorse rape or torture, as the subtext of your reply mockingly conveys! But the actions of one man (Uday Hussein) does not constitute a nation's policy on civil rights. Furthermore, I was alluding to the fact that under Saddam (and to make this abundantly clear - he is truly a monster!) women were not subject to the discriminating effects of Shariah law. Voting (albeit for Hussein or... Hussein), walking free without male chaperone, driving, free to choose whether to sport burkhas or not... These are all small fry of course, but in the cultural context of Iraq it was a major enough to call it progressive. Anyway, a tangent from the main argument of Galloway's "monster" credentials, I just think you were being a little unfair. Just an opinion, sorry.

they've done nothing spectacular (in terms of media headlines), but they've normalised/embedded the level of support that they pulled in at the euro elections (which most at the time pointed to as being a one off protest vote) - it's the long plod for euro nationalism, not flash in the pan protest/astro turf stuff - and they've pretty much got the level of support that was predicted they would get - sure they would have been happier with more but what party wouldn't

it's the first time the far right in the uk have really embedded that level of support without over stretching themselves in the process - with a national vote of almost double the greens and ten times the combined cobweb left vote (plus getting near on 50% of the green vote in lewisham for the mayoral), it's not something to be sniffed at (in terms of number of people in the country who are attracted to them and their brand)

Brockley Nick, perhaps "flourished" was not the best word to use in my statement. Of course, as a woman, I do not endorse rape or torture, as the subtext of your reply mockingly conveys! But the actions of one man (Uday Hussein) does not constitute a nation's policy on civil rights. Furthermore, I was alluding to the fact that under Saddam (and to make this abundantly clear - he is truly a monster!) women were not subject to the discriminating effects of Shariah law. Voting (albeit for Hussein or... Hussein), walking free without male chaperone, driving, free to choose whether to sport burkhas or not... These are all small fry of course, but in the cultural context of Iraq it was a major enough to call it progressive. Anyway, a tangent from the main argument of Galloway's "monster" credentials, I just think you were being a little unfair. Just an opinion, sorry.

galloway is no atheist, his religious fundamentalism (anti abortionist, pro-creationism) was one thing that made him so enamored with, and willing to prostitute his nominally socialist ideals to, a bunch of self appointed imam community leaders in east london - he's scum and given the chance would be a monster

not especialy brockleycentric but this http://bit.ly/as0jz3 is interesting. Trouble is now tfl can't blame tubelines. How much money has been pissed away with this experiment? Almost looking forward to going to work on Monday

"The level of support the NF had in the 1970s compared to what the BNP have now was massive. Let's keep things in proportion"

electorally speaking this is not true - the BNP are getting about 3 times as much support as the NF did back in the day - sure the level of street activity and violence is not comparable (especially post 1979 when the NF collapsed electorally and focussed entirely on the streets) - but street activity and violence tends to exaggerate actual structural base support

Cheers Jo (and Kate). Not sure if the council's website will update until all the wards have declared, so a drip-feed would be good! And if Lewisham Central could be included in the "local wards" for the occasion, that'd be even better. :)

@ Mintness. You did get me excited there. The Council's website updating until all results are declared!Just checked it. Realistically I think we are talking Monday lunchtime for that stop press. If I'm wrong, I'll be impressed.

Has anyone got the names of our new councillors in Ladywell? mabye someone has been introduced to one at a party/ knows their relatives/ or facebook page....anything. All information will be dealt with in confidence.

I'm very sorry indeed to see Ladywell and Brockley wards reverting to Labour - glad at least Darren Johnson retains his seat. As for Steve Bullock being elected for a third time as Mayor and Lewisham Council returning to Labour control.... not happy about that at all. And unlike the general election result we're stuck with those outcomes for years to come.

Great news. The Labour Party campaigned hard and didn't have to rely on huge numbers of volunteers from all over London like the Greens and Socialist Party. The people of Lewisham have spoken and I hope there isn't too much sour grapes about the workings of democracy. Well done to all the Labour Party activists and elected councillors. And thanks Jo for posting these results!

The Labour Party worked hard to get this council result? I'm sorry, I find that hard to believe for our ward. Nobody canvassed us and we had very little election literature. I looked at the names of our new councillors for Ladywell Ward just now and didn't recognise one of them.

I'm gutted that Sue and Ute didn't get re-elected in Ladywell. They've both been really committed and in my opinion deserved to be voted back in. I suppose as others have said they've been victims of the high turnout and party voting generated by the general election.

Great post, Anon 9.49, but I'm not holding my breath for any radical change from the new councillors, I'm afraid. An ambitious Labour councillor is surely going to think twice before criticising the Mayor and cabinet - our Green councillors didn't have those career considerations conflicting with what was in the ward's best interests.

I doubt it - the labour party thrives on central buearucratic control - all this has done has allowed the mayor etc all to push through more labourite policy without debate or re-thought because that is not what they are about. They are not liberal and in certainly at least some of the cases not particularly well educated or versed with the idea that after some consultation that 'maybe they are wrong'.

As for our lovely georgian/victorian gems in the area, say goodbye to even more of our heritage buildings. The labour party is the party of plastic fabricated huts - cheap, looks nice, but without any substance.

I've just looked up the Lewisham Labour Party website to see if I can find out more about our new councillors. The names given there as members of the Ladywell Action Team are Roy Kennedy, Tim Shand and Monique Howell. I assumed these would be the candidates. No information about any of them given as far as I could see.

http://www.lewishamlabour.co.uk/ladywell.html

I then looked at the results and to my surprise I find that the councillors elected are:

•Vincent Davis (Labour) •Helen Gibson (Labour) •Tim Shand (Labour)

To add to my confusion, we have just chucked out our stock of leaflets and I found to my surprise that all the Labour leaflets we had received assumed we were in Brockley ward. That's a pretty fundamental mistake and accounts for why the names of the people voted in were completely unfamiliar to me. Not a good start.

Democracy it seems is fine.....as long as the wrong sort of person does turn up to vote.

I simply don't buy this argument that everyone who voted Labour is a 'Donkey' and that everyone who votes Green is some super informed sage who has in great detail examined the issues locally and soberly come to a judgement on what is best for the whole community. I didn't vote Labour, but I have a quiet respect for their voters. They vote when it matters, and they know who they are, and what is in their interests.

Still I have to admit all those annoying Green leaflets were sort of right when they said only the Greens can beat Labour here. (Yeah beat them to a third seat in a single ward.) Bye bye Mung Beans!!!

Democracy it seems is fine.....as long as the wrong sort of person does NOT turn up to vote.

I simply don't buy this argument that everyone who voted Labour is a 'Donkey' and that everyone who votes Green is some super informed sage who has in great detail examined the issues locally and soberly come to a judgement on what is best for the whole community. I didn't vote Labour, but I have a quiet respect for their voters. They vote when it matters, and they know who they are, and what is in their interests.

Still I have to admit all those annoying Green leaflets were sort of right when they said only the Greens can beat Labour here. (Yeah beat them to a third seat in a single ward.) Bye bye Mung Beans!!!

OMG Tressiliana - that is classic. And one would laugh if the fact we are now stuck with such a party machine for four years does not make one weep.

In Telegraph Hill we have lost our hard-working, locally oriented socialists. And so the chance of having someone stand up and make a nuisance of themselves that we have had for well more than a decade. (The ideal is one or two on the outside of the party machine and one or two on the inside which we have had since the mid 1990s. With a brief four years when all the Councillors were out in the cold which was not so good for the ward.)

However Joan Millbank is a long-standing activist locally, involved in the community as a governor of Crossways and mucks in in the Festival. And I at least recognised the other names. Paul Bell has been active with the TRA on the Honor Oak Estate and Dan Whittle delivered programmes for the Festival last February.

Sorry if what I said in the heat of my disappointment about Ian Page and Chris Flood - whose pure socialist ideals I admire but do not see as in any way practical - by nature I am a pragmatic mix of Lib Dem. and conservative (with a small "c")- was inappropriate. But, Donkey, if people who turned out for the Lewisham Deptford constituency and returned Joan Ruddock with an increased majority were voting for their inner-City, working class, labour left-wing principles, why did the Socialists in Telegraph Hill - much closer to those principles - get equally trounced with the Greens in Brockley and Ladywell.

It seems clear that people were simply voting for the party label. Which is very sad.

Is it the case that way, way back when - I think before I could actually vote - people were just given the names of the Candidates on the ballot paper? I think I remember my parents talking about it. And so, when they came in to vote, they did actually have to have read or looked at the pre-election literature.

No doubt along with everybody else in Telegraph Hill, I receive lots of information and/or visits from Labour, the socialists and greens. The number of socialists out on the day was huge and a smaller number of Labour and green activists were also about. However, it was a Labour landslide. Lots of posts here are complaining - but the electorate were informed. It is frankly quite insulting to suggest that voters choosing Labour were stupid or not thinking. We've all heard this before and too often it's amixture of sour grapes and a condescending attitude toward lower income voters who look to Labour.

This is SO effing depressing. We've lost the best set of local councillors I've EVER had - and I've lived in a few places! I can't believe this. Who are these people? I hope they stick their heads over the parapet and make themselves known locally, asap.

Brockley Central should really do some interviews with them to find out what their priorities are going to be and so on.

"And unlike the general election result we're stuck with those outcomes for years to come."

Having grown up in Newcastle with a one-third rotation system, I do find this business of electing the whole council once every four years rather odd. If anything, surely the hands-on nature of local politics means it should be a place where dissatisfaction and the desire for change can be expressed on a more regular basis.

Rob Blackie said: "John Bowen and the Lib Dem team worked incredibly hard in Crofton Park..." so presumably He was too tired to bother to turn up to the count last night to see your only Lib Dem gain in London?Seems a bit of an insult to Crofton Park electors and all the other candidates who also worked hard and managed to make it.

@ Catman "lovely georgian/victorian gems" Yeah they'll definitely all be bull boozed by the bolsheviks in Catford Torwn Hall. Take a chill pill pleassssseee, if we protected what you call "heritage", and what I call standing hardcore any more in this country, we wouldn;t be allowed to fart near it. And where are these georgian gems you speak of? A handful of Toff Villas in Blackheath?

The one third rotation system sounds interesting? How does it work. By the sound of it it makes sense, giving an element of continuity. Nearly everywhere in Lewisham it is the same old same old - but in this area we've got totally new Councillors to bring up to speed on local issues.

@ Anon. 11.35 If people voting on the basis of thought and principle and information received why were the greens and Socialists equally trounced? And the fact that they were all existing councillors active in Ward Assemblies and holding regular surgeries seemed to count for nothing. It has to be a case of just ticking (or in this case crossing) the party box. And receiving leaflets does not mean that they are read. Only the undecided persue the literature (or the virtual hustings on this blog).

This result is so depressing, Steve Bullock gave all the impression of being in Brockley on sufference at the hustings at St Peters, he made no effort to justify his tenure or to offer anything new. Labour just dabbles with local democracy and still has this one size fits all approach to services. Whilst a hung national gov't might not be so smart a hung Lewisham might have injected some fresh energy into the place - and their officers.

Tamsin - it works on a four-year cycle, basically, with one-third of the councillors up for election each time (and one year off). So each councillor is still elected for a four-year term, but their work, or that of their colleagues and their parties at least, can effectively be judged every year.

And obviously it also has the effect of allowing quicker "rectification" of high turnout-driven events like last night's Green/Socialist wipeout, if that's the way one chooses to look at things...

@ Anon 12.34 (who appears to be totally blinkered literally and metaphorically by prejudice and a chip on the shoulder)" And where are these georgian gems you speak of? A handful of Toff Villas in Blackheath?"Um, actually all the ordinary terraces in the conservation areas (why they are conservation areas) except where flattened by the Luftwaffe. Two thirds of these (in the Telegraph Hill area at least) are now converted into flats and a signficant number are local authority or housing association owned. Hardly "toff villas". These are not, admittedly, at risk of being bull-dozed but they are subject to the steady atrition of garden/green space infill, and conversion, or re-conversion, to inappropriately dense housing units. What drives this is not social housing need but out-of-area developers (who maybe do live in toff villas in Blackheath) wanting to make money. The (New-)Labour Council pragmatically tends to roll over and let this happen. Only the mavericks - green and socialist and (sometimes) Lib Dem - who knew they had no chance of jockeying themselves into the Inner Cabinet and real power - would sometimes stand out against it. Those chances are now reduced and it is regrettable.

Other Victorian/Georgian gems are the Georgian cottages that run down Friendly Street and the fascinating Arts & Crafts terrace beside the ARthouse.

And the Arthouse itself - an ex-Carnegie Library with fantastically beautiful and valuable interior features that the Labour Council tried to sell to the highest bidder (despite local amenity groups wanting to keep it in public use). Unfortunately they totally screwed up the sale and the place was trashed internally in the meantime so, when the ARthouse Collective finally were allowed to acquire it, it was literally a shell.

With Labour in overall control and those who are more likely to be career politicians as Ward councillors (I may wrong them - I hope I do) one can, I fear, but again hope I am wrong, only expect more of the same.

Just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you to all at BC for your fantastic coverage, from the hustings onwards, for these elections. You have been immensely dedicated and have helped me to be the most informed and most interested that I have ever been when casting my vote for local councils. I actually felt engaged in the process. We Brockleyites are SO lucky to have a blog like this.

Why are career politicians so hated? Surely by definition a career is the course and progression of a particular job. So if someone chooses to dedicate their lives to just politics as a main source of income, why is that necessarily bad? Surely people want a lasting politician, one with political acumen, experience and understanding of local issues (from that long career spent only in politics)? The argument that proposes career politician might be too soft to 'rock the boat' in fear of losing votes and hence job... Well the point of democracy is too appeal to the majority anyway! 'Populist' is just a term used by the cynical minority who did not vote the same way as the rest. Undertandably so, however. Finally, would anyone care about career doctors, career teachers, career fireman? - ooh, people who dedicate their lives to healing people, teaching children, putting out fires - yeah, what a load of w*nkers...

The problem is not with career, it's careerism - not those worried to upset the electorate, those worried to upset their masters that sponsor them in the safe seats.Make the right noises, take the right picture, be harmless and go ahead in plitics.Goons and yes-men. Plenty of them.

Donkey 11:06 'Bye Bye Mungbeans' you say. I will ignore the pathetic immaturity of that comment. How long have you lived here? Surely you realise that the last 4 years were a balanced council in Lewisham.It was the Greens amongst others (The Socialists and the LibDems as well as the odd Tory) that helped give real debate in the council.Prior to 2006 Labour held the council for about 40 years. Is that healthy?Enough of these pathetic mung bean comments.

Hold it, I have the ultimate green joke, with apologies to all green friends but this is too funny and it's real life.

About ten days ago I was canvassing and this girl opens the door, as I start introducing myself she stops me and says that she's a green candidate for "South Catford", at that point I correct her telling her that the name of the ward she's running for is "Catford South".

Thanks, I know you can fly occasionally (assuming you offset), even Monbiot flies, and he supported the Lib Dems this time.I just fount it so perfectly ungreen, but I kept it for myself until after elections.

The electorate has spoken. The level of bitterness is uncalled for. The Greens may seem to have done a lot for the interests of those that post on this blog. Some people what different things from their councillors. Accept that Labour was duly elected and get on with things.

People aren't bitter they are disappointed - and it is easy to understand why - nobody can deny that a) the current councillors worked hard on a lot of non-party tpe issues and b) that it is alwas healthy to have an active opposition in any council to curb excess.

@ Name So why not (in Telegraph Hill ward) vote for the Socialists - red not pink - who would try give it to them?

@ Labour supporter Thanks, such an admirable summary that I have nothing else to say and will shut up and see if Sainsbury's have some preserving sugar. (I am finally turning the accumulations of increasingly dessicated citrus fruit hanging around my kitchen into marmalade.)

@ Tamsin. We probably don't agree on the meaning of Georgian. I take it to mean the period from the early eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries, when Georges 1 to 4 were on the throne. You seem to think its an era that covers any time when there was anyone called George living in England. Note I did not mention victorian (we have lots of late victorian barrett executive homes, I admit, nice on the outside but mostly creaking energy sponges on the inside).

Reaching for my Pevsner,(you drove me to it) I find the street in Deptford, at the bottom of Tanners Hill you refer to, to be as I suspected late C17th. I was forgetting St Paul's on Deptford High Street, which is early Georgian (and horrible in my opinion.) Otherwise the only significant Georgian buildings in the borough are in Blackheath,ie the Paragon. I know that the English disease is the fetishisation of old buildings. But lets not get carried away. Architecturally this place is only notable for churches (like everywhere else) and as Pevsner says, 'the lesser victorian suburban house'. Georgian gems there are few.

Just been doing some number crunching comparing the total number of votes cast for council candidates in the wards that make up the Lewisham Deptford Constituency (i.e. New Cross, Evelyn, Telegraph Hill, Brockley, Ladywell, Crofton Park and Lewisham Central) and comparing them with the Parliamentary vote.

The percentages for LPBP and Socialists understate their support as they did not have three candidates in all wards.

Whilst I stand by my original comment that "the makeup of the new council may reflect national voting trends more than being a referendum on the performance of our local Mayor and councillors" it is still interesting to see how much better the greens and socialists polled locally compared to the national result.

@ Anon 14.27 People care about the career politician i think, because it implies a disconnect between the person and the lives of the people that they represent. This disconnect is probably one of the reasons people detest politicians.

Also makes the interesting point that Labour managed to get a massive majority of councillors despite winning less than 50% of the popular vote in the council elections (or at least, those on this side of the borough).

@ Sparrow. Re the Mung Beans. Good to know it's getting to you. I on the contrary am still very much enjoying the term MUNG BEAN. Not as much obviously as seeing the Mung Bean's recent electoral spanking, but almost as much. Perhaps you are proposing the censorship of Counter Mung-Beanian speech, or the new offence of Mung Bean denial. The term is just too delicious, unlike the actual beans. If I were a mung bean I would adopt the label with pride. Who knows a century from now the general election could be a close race between the Tories and the Mungs.

Communism anyone? Democracy's overated and inherently fraught with problems. Why subject a minority to the whims of a majority. Instead, get a benevolent dictator and give the state complete control! Bliss. All thoughts and actions no longer needed at an individual level. No decadent free press or speech - wasted self-interest moanings all of it. Mass redistribution of everything - most of all socks. Destroy the meaning of money. Value as set by state not markets. Collaborate or banishment. No competition. No half-assed elections with its innate failings - mere futile gesture of a dying political ideology. Kill all dissidence. Kill God. Whose with me? Anyone? Please?

While Lewisham's electorate considers whether to rise up in revolt against democracy, here's a joyful little snippet: Tom Royal has created a shiny new graph for Simon Nundy (Conservative mayoral candidate, whose use of figures was called into question during the campaign):

"I simply don't buy this argument that everyone who voted Labour is a 'Donkey' and that everyone who votes Green is some super informed sage who has in great detail examined the issues locally and soberly come to a judgement on what is best for the whole community. I didn't vote Labour, but I have a quiet respect for their voters. They vote when it matters, and they know who they are, and what is in their interests."

That needs to be embossed on brass and nailed to every entrance into Brockley. Far too much airy-fairy politics has ruled the area for too long and I'm glad to see the back of it. The deli-green culture that permeates Brockley is disgusting...

Oh I don't know, this this blog and brockley has fried chicken, kebabs, deli's, casual racism, snobery, godbotherers, atheists, greens, anarchists, conservationists, modernists, tory's, lawyers, artists, mail readers, students, postmen, gastro pubs, music pubs, smelly pubs, pubs that are now flats, pubs that are just pubs and cretinius numbnuts like you who think there is such a thing as 'typical'

I've reconsidered some of my earlier posts. On adult reflection I have been puerile and somewhat immature. Using good ol' cockney rhyming slang to describe the Greens as Mung Beans, I see now, is denigrating people because of their flatulence inducing dietary habits.

But what to call them instead. A moniker that still reflects my culture as a Londoner, nods at the dietary aspect without overplaying it, and takes into account recent political developments. Hmmmm.....Tough one.(Eureka moment)I've got it.

Anon @ 20:39 You over egg the pub aspect I would suggest - that bit to the north of Lewisham Way is actually called Deptford, and they have the kickin' pubs. And Snobbery has two b's. (I only tell you this to stop your social superiors from having another reason to laugh at you)

And by the way it is an honour to be compared to that great man. You probably have never thought about this before. But do you realise, before that man came to power, this borough didn't have a Matalan. That man, that titan, sweated blood to get the people of Lewisham access to crap brand synthetic fibre sports wear at knock down prices. And you.. you.. 'anonymous'... you little..literal... no-one, use his name as an implied insult. If you had looked recently into his care worn face, into his eyes, (compassionate yet steely) you would know the meaning of the word...caring.

Steve Bullock.. Steve Bullock.. Steve Bullock... Steve Bullock...say it soft and its almost like praying, say and it loud, and there's music playing.

With election fever over, the nation now recovered or dead, does anybody else feel underwhelmed with the sense of paralytic apathy with the whole darn caboodle? I feel like there should be something loud, hollywood and with lots of flash to signify the end. Not some undemocratic behind the scenes, backroom political manoeuverings. If they do end up conspiring to form some sort of unwanted and unvoted for unholy alliance, I'm going to form a new wing of the Greens - the militant mungs. I suppose if you mix yellow and blue, green results. That's wishful thinking even in metaphore. Anyway, pitchforks at the ready with shop windows quaking in fear let the flower revolution commence! Cuba was taken in 3 years. So gardening implements and scary looking vegetables at the ready, all the while wearing socks in sandals, london could be ours in no time at all. Borris beware, your floppy-haired days of mass corruption are upon you. (N.B. The author of these comments is in no way affiliated with the Green party and/or its subsidiaries.)

A bromance is what used to be called a male friendship. If you have ever seen the sitcom 'Scrubs', you'll get the idea. It's all part of the very healthy, in my view, feminisation of the society we live in.

I want to add my thanks to Sue and the other great Green councillors and to Ian Page and Chris Flood. I am also dissappointed that Max Calo, Jess Leech and Jim Jepps were not elected.

Although I voted Labour in the general election, I think it is bad for the borough that Labour consolidated their hold.

On the question above, as to why the LDs bucked the trend in Crofton Park, any thoughts? Gentrification may be one factor - the dying off the older working class people and the extension of more middle class homeowners into an area previously seen as a bit too suburban? I don't think Lib Dems fought a stronger campaign in CP than in other parts of the borough and certainly had far stronger candidates (e.g. Max) in other wards.

@ Donkey. cor blimey I think you need a calming cup of herbal tea, in fact I think you need an afternoon of pampering with alternative therapies, followed by a video information evening on global warming. You'd really enjoy that wouldn't you. And afterwards you get a complimentary bag of mung beans.

@ Sparrow. That sounds to me like a typical day at Mung Bean Guantanamo. Though I am partial to peppermint tea, and don't doubt CO2 is having an effect on the climate, so maybe even I have an inner Mung.

you know the one thing more tedious than green holier than thou-ism is shit anti greenism 'humour' - if you want to attack the green's at least attach onto something of substance to do it from, it's not like there's not much choice in that area

I was really, really looking forward to being a councillor in Ladywell, and I'm heartbroken that we lost (it was painfully close) but hey, roll on 2014... :) The Greens will be back, I'm quite sure of it.

Green's have never been holier-than-thou, in my experience. They've never preached on soapboxes in a hyde park corner fashion. Their policies have strong foundations in common sense socialist principles. Haven't a clue why support hasn't grown locally here as they have in Brighton Pavillion. I assume we're all too conserved in our political dogmas to pull out our heads and smell the odours of change. Who can blame us, so long as bins get emptied on time...

@ Love Detective. I apologise for my lack of substance. My feeling for substance has been compromised I suppose by several years of exposure to Mung Bean leaflets, with their nonsense uncosted promises and bad alliteration.

Btw that there are shift keys at both sides of the keyboard that can be used to produce capital letters. Try it sometime.

Surprise, surprise, the good people of Lewisham don't think voluntary immiseration and de-industrialisation is a vote winner. When they can be bothered to come to the polls - ordinary decent hard working people are usually too busy - they tell you this in no uncertain terms.

They show up for important elections like the one we've just had, but local and Euros are really only for the anoraks, of which I of course am one. But I take my hat off to my fellow citizens who ignore them.

@ Anon Sat. 17.32 - sorry - hadn't noticed that you had dropped the "Victorian" from your comment. And quite a lot of what I cheerfully categorise as Georgian from the look of it is probably Victorian - you forget just how young she was and how early in the century she came to the throne.But even the Victorian Barrat homes (nice concept) in the conservation areas - where they have not been messed around too much are lovely inside. If you are lucky (which we are not) painted/transfer interior glazing and tiling on the hall floor. Also mantlepieces and panelled doors. If you don't like such features go elsewhere. Please don't advocate bull-dozing them for the hard-core or welcome a planning regime that will give way to developer pressure for inappropriate conversion and garden infill.

Ladywell Ward: thanks to Google, I've found out that one of our new councillors, Tim Shand, was presumably unable to canvass locally because he was standing for election as MP for Guildford (didn't get elected). Previously stood as a Green candidate in Glasgow.

I have to say, I do find some of these posts both insulting and patronising.

Last week's results were down to a large turnout of voters. Yes, Sue Luxton was a very good councillor but in 2006, she was only elected on approx 1/3 of the vote. On Thursday, something like 2/3 of voters in Ladywell and Brockley cast their ballots and their decision was clear - Labour has a mandate to represent our two wards and we should wish them the best of luck.

But the idea that those who voted Labour (as I did) were not as well engaged or informed as those who voted for someone else is frankly patronising.